PPV.COM Prepares for Epic Spence Crawford Showdown

What do staging a major boxing card and planning a wedding have in common?

Ask Mark Boccardi, senior vice president of programming and marketing of PPV.COM. Boccardi and his team are gearing up to produce content and fight night coverage for the most anticipated card of the year on Saturday, July 29, when undefeated welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford square off at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

If you can't be one of the fortunate fans inside the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, July 29, you'll need to rely on a streaming service like PPV.COM. Photo: Gayle Falkenthal, NY Fights

“Things are first announced, right? You first get engaged. There's a flurry of activity that happens,” says Boccardi. Once the basics are settled, there's a lull. About two weeks out, it's all systems go.

“This week is your one week out leading into the fight itself. During fight week, it's just sort of like a mad dash to the finish line. That's kind of the way that I describe it to people in terms of what we're actually doing,” explained Boccardi. “I'm more like a wedding planner, and you know what? I'm proud of it.”

PPV.COM Leans Into The Streaming Mainstream 

In less than two years, PPV.COM, the streaming platform launched in 2021 by inDEMAND to augment its existing cable delivery to 80 million homes, filled the need for an agnostic platform available to provide pay-per-view service to non-subscribers of the affiliated network showing the fight card – in this case, Showtime.

Premium cable once ruled pay-per-view – as in this 2016 photo of Team Crawford – but streaming technology is now the preferred delivery method for many fans. Photo: Mikey Williams, Top Rank

The lion's share of fans who can't be among the 23,000 people fortunate enough to be inside the venue on fight night count on technology to bring the action to them. From the days of network television to premium cable and now to streaming, it's got to be seamless, or it's a disaster.

Boccardi is amid the final grind to spread the word. Fans have choices among their PPV providers. PPV.COM works with a multitude of partners to offer supporting content and interactive experiences for fans to make them feel good about handing over the price tag and prevent poaching through illegal streams.

“We're still at this stage where we're sort of ­– let's give everything a try. That's kind of our mentality,” said Boccardi. “Let's see what works and what sticks. We've gotten so much more efficient from year one now versus year two.”

But what it really boils down to is promoters staging great fights. Thank you, 2023.

Spence Vs. Crawford Highlights a Blockbuster 2023 Boxing Year – So Far

Errol Spence Jr. is greeted by fans as he arrives at the MGM Grand Hotel lobby Tuesday in Las Vegas. Photo: Esther Lin, Showtime Boxing

Unified champion Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs) puts his IBF, WBA, and WBC belts at stake against WBO champion Terence Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs). It's arguably the biggest fight in eight years since Mayweather vs. Pacquiao set records, disappointing fans with the lack of action they expected.

With the shift toward streaming content by consumers, boxing remained dominated by the traditional cable/satellite model for pay-per-view content.

“When we saw that start to shift a little bit, and consumers were getting more and more comfortable with relying on streaming for live sports, they were getting more and more comfortable using their credit card online,” said Boccardi.

Terence Crawford makes his way through the crowd Tuesday at the MGM Grand lobby. Photo: Esther Lin, Showtime Boxing

Give The Fans What They Want

“When we launched this thing, we didn't think we'd be as far along as we are right now. It's partly thanks to the great work that promoters have done in putting good fights together.” Boccardi said the older age of boxing audiences forced PPV.COM to do some strategic thinking. Without younger fans, boxing will die out.

“What would a younger audience comfortable with streaming enjoy? How about exclusive content and live chat augmenting the fight content?” asks Boccardi.

“We already had chat functionality built into players they were using for other types of content. We thought, let's give that a shot for pay-per-view.” Initially, Boccardi says the effort was going to be limited to significant events due to the work involved – but the people spoke.

“Consumers really liked it. They really liked speaking with industry experts, whether that was other boxers, retired boxers, journalists, historians. It created a unique experience you couldn't get anywhere else. For every event we've done since the beginning, the percentage of users who actually participate in the chat has gone up.”

PPV.COM and JomBoy Media are partnering to provide content with Dan Canobbio of CompuBox and former junior lightweight champion Chris Algieri. Illustration: PPV.COM

For Spence vs. Crawford, PPV.COM has partnered with JomBoy Media's popular “Inside Boxing Live” podcast hosts, Dan Canobbio of CompuBox, and former world champion Chris Algieri. The pair will co-host programming and events in Las Vegas all week, supplemented by the work of veteran boxing journalist Lance Pugmire.

Talking Pay Per Views Numbers – Or Not

Inevitably, it won't be too long after a winner is declared when so-called buy numbers start popping up. PPV.COM abides by a non-disclosure agreement with promoters, so don't believe what you see.

“At the end of the day, we're one of the few people that know how events actually do (in number of buys). So when we see rumors online, or official sounding reports, or any other quotes about it, we know how far from the truth those are. Very rarely, if ever, in my 20 years of doing this, have I ever seen a number that was really on point,” explained Boccardi.

“(Promoters) are ultimately the deciders of whether or not numbers will be released. They're only going to release a number that's a huge record-breaking type number like Davis-Garcia (1.2 million buys). I can tell you that's accurate. Promoters let that go because it was such a huge number.”

Haters Gonna Hate

Whether Spence vs. Crawford matches Davis vs Garcia numbers, does it affect your enjoyment of the fight? Photo: Esther Lin, Showtime Boxing

Boccardi understands people are curious, but others give in to a heavy dose of schadenfreude.

“People like seeing things fail. There are a lot of keyboard warriors who would love to see next week that Spence Crawford did, you know, 150,000 buys, and was a complete flop, just because they want to see something fail. Right? They've got nothing better to do,” said Boccardi.

“Whether that comes from a place of jealousy, or misguided angst about something else, unfortunately, it exists. I think several promoters and Showtime have taken the right stance, which is, ‘Let's just get out of the business of reporting numbers.' If there's a huge historical number, great, but other than that, we don't want to get into the back and forth.

“Did something do 250 or 325 (thousand buys)? Let's just leave it as is. And I think that's the better approach.”

Social Media Fighter Events “Nothing But Positive”

Jake Paul stopped former MMA champion Anderson Silva in October 2022. Photo: Esther Lin, Showtime Boxing

Hot on the heels of Spence vs. Crawford is the bout being offered via PPV.COM between social media star turned professional boxer Jake “Problem Child” Paul, coming off a loss to Tommy Fury to face MMA icon Nate Diaz in Dallas on August 5, 2023. Paul predicts the card will generate 500,000 buys. Whether it does and whether it beats the Spence Crawford numbers (assuming anyone knows), Boccardi is a believer.

“I subscribe to the philosophy that the – we'll call them social media star fights – are not a bad thing for boxing. I don't like hearing people saying, “Well, Jake Paul is bad for boxing, and some of these other KSI-type fights, they're bad for boxing. No, they're not.

“Could these guys compete with a top fighter in the sport? No, but that's not the point. They're conditioning themselves. They're working hard. In the case of Jake Paul, he's actually had some legitimate success. And it's bringing people who otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to boxing into boxing,” explains Boccardi.

Boccardi advises fans to enjoy the traditional major boxing matches and watch the novelty cards – or not. “This is one of those ‘rising tide lifts all boats' scenarios. We have more boxing available in one place, and one's not against the other.”

Predicting Spence vs. Crawford?

On fight night, Boccardi will relax enough to be a fan. “In terms of what happens in the ring, I expect a great fight. I really do. The fact that neither of these guys has ever been knocked down in a professional fight is really exciting.”

Boccardi said he expects a small margin of victory no matter who prevails. “These guys know what's at stake. I think there will be a lot of action, but I think it will go the distance.” But if there's a knockout, expect pandemonium.

“If someone goes down, I can imagine the roar in the T-Mobile Arena.”